Smith is an offensive defensman; I think we can all see that in his game. I agree with Kip though, that Babs cares about defense before offense, so Smith needs to learn to take care of things on the defensive side of the puck, and adapt his offensive game without sacrificing scoring opportunities against us. He's getting better every week at this. Last year most of LGW wanted him off the team, earlier this year more folks started believing that he could be solid for us, and now we have a thread dedicated to "the real Brendan Smith" finally showing up. I still believe he has a ways to go, and ultimately see him being the Brian Rafalski that we've been missing in a couple years. Time will tell if he reaches that potential or not, but he's trending in the right direction.

I think you need to temper that a bit. I agree that he's a rookie and therefore it's premature to throw in the towel on him...but...lots of other rookies (Lashoff and Dekeyser for instance) manage to go game to game without being noticeably terrible at protecting the puck or maintaining zone coverages. Smith is bad at both...even for a rookie.

The guy you were responding to is wrong for thinking that Smith's deficiencies doom him to a awful career, likewise you're wrong for insinuating that his being a rookie excuses him from having to play responsible defense.

True, I was a bit hard on the guy, but its not like a hockey forum is a place for careful critical thinking and rational arguments. You sir are a gentleman and scholar while I was... less so. Still, Smith is the last player I am pinning my hopes on for this team.

Smith is an offensive defensman; I think we can all see that in his game. I agree with Kip though, that Babs cares about defense before offense, so Smith needs to learn to take care of things on the defensive side of the puck, and adapt his offensive game without sacrificing scoring opportunities against us. He's getting better every week at this. Last year most of LGW wanted him off the team, earlier this year more folks started believing that he could be solid for us, and now we have a thread dedicated to "the real Brendan Smith" finally showing up. I still believe he has a ways to go, and ultimately see him being the Brian Rafalski that we've been missing in a couple years. Time will tell if he reaches that potential or not, but he's trending in the right direction.

I also think that "he is trending in the right direction", and I think that is a good way to phrase it. I think that with his skills, at all lower levels of hockey that he has played until the NHL, he thought of himself as somewhat of a badass - a hockey player being like a gunslinger that hasn't met his match to date. He was always mostly a big fish in a small pond, but now, he can't out maneuver the opposition based on his above average physical skills alone (skating, stick handling, etc).

The complete opposite was Nick Lidstrom, who despite a laser slapshot, relied mostly on smarts, and I think that we can all agree that he flourished this way. He wasn't Coffey fast, Weber physical, etc., but his positioning and anticipation were superhuman, and hopefully, Mr. Smith will take some of that to heart one day soon, and combine his God-given abilities with intelligent hockey. I think you can tell from interviews that he is not just plain dumb, so it must be that he still hasn't accepted the fact that the skills that allowed him to dominate at lower levels are not so unusual in the pro game. I think that (hopefully) if and when he ever catches on and buys into the program, watch out!

True, I was a bit hard on the guy, but its not like a hockey forum is a place for careful critical thinking and rational arguments. You sir are a gentleman and scholar while I was... less so. Still, Smith is the last player I am pinning my hopes on for this team.

I completely agree, and my views on Smith are pretty well established. But I do recognize that a guy can develop late...particularly in our system. I was one of the "f*ck Ericsson" folks a couple years ago and I had to eat crow on that. So I have to at least consider the possibility that Smith could do the same, as much as I hate his stupid face.

I completely agree, and my views on Smith are pretty well established. But I do recognize that a guy can develop late...particularly in our system. I was one of the "f*ck Ericsson" folks a couple years ago and I had to eat crow on that. So I have to at least consider the possibility that Smith could do the same, as much as I hate his stupid face.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

We've heard for years of the type of player that Smith can be, and every now and then we see glimpses; but I'm not sure yet who the real Brendan Smith is. Is he the fast skating offensive threat? Or is he the boneheaded penalty taking machine? I wish I knew.

I just wish Babs would handle him better, Smith was heralded as an offensive threat and yet other then a few chances Babs has never given him a chance on the PP. Of all the guys Babs has tried on the point, and failed miserably with(yes I'm looking at you Sammy) why not give Smith a chance? If I'm not mistaken even Ian White had a chance on the PP, Ian freaking White let's all digest that for a second... But the coaching staff can't take all the blame, Smith hasn't taken that next step defensively and made Babs handle him differently either.

There are games when I love the guy and there are games when I want to ring his neck. Other then Quincey he might be the most frustrating player on the team he's talented but hasn't put it all together yet. I guess only time will tell who the real Brendon Smith really is.

"He usually shows up when the game is over and tries to be the hero. Puts his cape on and goes and flies out there." ~ Franzen

Yep, at times at the start of the year Smith was PKing regularly while Dekeyser wasnt but Dekeyser was on the PP. Babcocks handling of Smith is just bizarre. Kindl didnt produce all year but has all the PP time in the world. Smith is second in ES scoring for dmen and one point off of second without a lick of PP time.

Maybe Babcock is scared if he starts scoring he'll stop worry about defense but with this team needing goals now and an anemic PP he should've at least got a shot.

As for whoever said Lashoff doesnt look bad out there, its because he plays the same minutes as the fourth line forwards do. Give him Smiths minutes and Smith looks much better.

I'm not a huge advanced stats guy but Smith is now leading Detroits D in corsirelative and has a comparable quality of competition, hes not extremely sheltered or anything.

Why Babs won't play him on the PP though is bizarre. Like someone else mentioned, maybe he's trying to make Smith "earn" his PP time through strong defensive play. It makes no sense that your Dman who is 2nd in even strength scoring gets no PP time.

"If I can be totally honest, it's not a lot of guys you get impressed by. Actually, it's no one else but him. From the bench, to see what move he makes -- you're like, 'I wish I could do that.' Sometimes you sit on the bench and just think, 'wow,' and you look over to the other bench and they sit there and shake their heads, too. He has great, great skills. I'm probably not going to play with another player who has the kind of skills he has." Mikael Samuelsson on Pavel Datsyuk

I think you need to temper that a bit. I agree that he's a rookie and therefore it's premature to throw in the towel on him...but...lots of other rookies (Lashoff and Dekeyser for instance) manage to go game to game without being noticeably terrible at protecting the puck or maintaining zone coverages. Smith is bad at both...even for a rookie.

The guy you were responding to is wrong for thinking that Smith's deficiencies doom him to a awful career, likewise you're wrong for insinuating that his being a rookie excuses him from having to play responsible defense.

Is there a clinical diagnosis of bipolar hockey disorder? It always seems to be that he can look like an all-star one game (or even on one play), and then look like a beginning AHLer the very next one. As he is today, he will win your heart sometimes, and then break it at others.

Maybe you oldtimers like me will remember the line from that 1950's-60's quiz show, To Tell The Truth... "Will the real Brendan Smith, please stand up?"

This ret*ard has been banished to the third pairing (where he belongs) and he still can't make a decent pass against bottom six talent on a s***ty team. I honestly can't believe the people complaining about how he needs more PP time/How his game is negatively influenced by Quincey. I'll give a nice hefty back slap to the person who starts the "Poor Brian Lashoff, having to Play with Smith" thread.

As always, he'll get get better. But god knows why so many people make excuses for this dips***...oh wait...he occasionally (but rarely) fights guys. Durrrr....

Aside from that obviously terrible pass in that game, I thought he had a pretty good night otherwise. Was jumping in and keeping the play alive in the offensive zone really well. And I can't remember the last time I raged at him before that pass yesterday. So I think he's been solid lately.